Police arrested a 21-year-old man who had stripped off his clothes at Hong Kong’s annual Pride march on Saturday for “outraging public decency.”
The man, who was wearing only his underwear with a red rope tied around his waist was taken away by police at 4.30pm on Hennesy Road, Wanchai, and later released on bail.
He removed his clothes in a busy area of the road that was cordoned off for the march.
An accomplice filming the arrest told HKFP that the man was a performance artist.
“[He] exposed his private part in view of [the] public,” said the police when approached by HKFP over the incident. They added that the District Crime Squad had investigated the case and released him on bail.
Under Section 148 of the Crimes Ordinance, a person who is charged with “indecency in public” is liable to a fine of HK$6,000 and 6 months in jail.
The incident occurred at this year’s edition of Pride, which organisers said was attended by over 12.000 people, 2,000 up from last year. The police put the figure at around 4,300.
A key demand this year has been to enshrine equality into the law through the introduction of legal protections for LGBT+ people.
